Collingwood Training Report – 1st March 2016

The big burly defender from Rutherglen was one of Collingwood’s finest in the 60s and 70s, unfairly remembered most for that handball which landed in the arms of Barry Breen, who would eventually kick the point which delivered St Kilda’s one and only premiership in their history, 50 years ago. No, you see, the feeling that Potter had from his playing days is the one that he gets when he has a look 200m in front of him.

Potter still holds the record for most League games without a goal – 182 of them he played. And there’s doubtless thoughts he wouldn’t have entertained the thought of going into the forward line at any point while he stood the likes of Jezza, Hart and Baldock throughout his career.

He’s the first bloke that pops into my head as I walk past the MCG, en route to the Holden Centre. As a Demon fan, 200m further up the road from Gosch’s Paddock is unchartered territory really to look at training, let alone another team – another rival. It’s… different.

There’s an air of expectation in Magpie land this year, and if anything, last Friday night’s win in that NAB Challenge epic over the Cats probably strengthens those claims. The fact that the Pies managed 21.5 without Cloke or Moore, nor a goal from Jesse White would have particularly pleased Bucks. Last year wasn’t really indicative of how they looked on the park, and a 10-12 record, plus a 12th place finish, is little more than an eyesore. Five of their losses post-bye were under 12 points.

The scene then. Initially as I walk in there’s a number of players having a bit of a kick-to-kick, and then there’s Corey Gault training on his own – and that’s kinda fair enough when you consider the form he’s been in. Five goals in the intraclub and a second half bag against Geelong – yeah, I’d be sticking with what I know. Jarryd Blair and Jarrod Witts have perhaps the most unusual kick-to-kick session, solely because Witts’ ball drop is pretty much the same height as Blair himself. A couple of others, such as Taylor Adams and young Ben Crocker, are pretty much trying to thread the eye of the needle right in front of me, while Jesse White is out to practise the more conventional method from a slight angle.

Standard practise in basically every football team ever, some stretches kick us off. And as is also standard practise, there’s nothing much to report for now. Alex Fasolo is basically the first to break rank out of the group, and stands up while everyone else is sitting down. It may or may not be worthy of an AFL investigation. Either way, he doesn’t seem fazed by the “storm in a peecup”, which just doesn’t surprise me. I wouldn’t be either.

The boys get into a few lanes after their warmup. The skills aren’t up straight away – it takes a few kicks which hit the ground straight up – but they hit their stride not too long afterwards. A short pause, asking for more intensity as they get off the cone as they go a few metres back.

The next drill is an interesting one, where there’s a small assortment of players at both ends with a large bunch of players in the middle – basically the players in the middle break off as a player breaks from the back pocket at either end and then deliver to the waiting ‘full forward’ if you like. Most pleasing is that Steele Sidebottom has a wide brim hat that George Bailey would be proud of, and perhaps the most famous hat in football since Andrew Walker’s a few years back (Google it. It’s worth it).

Back to the drill – again it’s a little flat and the skills aren’t up. There isn’t a great big breeze to speak of – mind you it’s starting to pick up as I type. The drills go by with intensity. Seconds after the whistle blows, all players are gathered in a pack in the middle and are working on their loose ball gets. The drill is only short. In the meantime, Ben Sinclair is doing some run-throughs, as is everyone’s new favourite cult hero, big Mason Cox. Both of them looked okay on Friday night – Sinclair after a couple of years of hamstring troubles, while big Cox took a couple of nice towering marks and kicked a couple of goals which was so good to see.

The next drill sees the boys split into two – one group doing a stoppage drill and one doing more of a madball like drill which basically sees one team try to keep the ball away from the other (who are wearing bibs). Scott Pendlebury always seems to start with the footy and unsurprisingly, the boys are looking for him at every opportunity. When Pendles nonchalantly hits (I think) Marley Williams with a little curler on the right, it just doesn’t surprise me that everyone wants to kick it to him. Heck, I would.

The boys now change groups and do the drill that they weren’t doing before. One bloke there whose bandwagon I’m just about ready to jump on is Jordan De Goey. There’s still just a little bit of work to be done with his delivery inside 50 which was evident on Friday night but otherwise… you just have to love the bloke. So sure with the footy, looking pretty big and I like the look of his bright red kicks, too.

One thing that’s particularly evident is that the group nearest to me with the madball drill are trying to promote quick ball movement, no more evident than when Jack Crisp berates young Brayden Sier to ‘get rid of it’ even though he’s had the ball for not much more than three seconds. Speaking of young Sier, he has a nice little moment when he sells a bit of candy to Adam Treloar and gives him a bit of an ankle-breaker. He’s a good young talent, Sier – many thought he was the surprise of the draft but given he played in the league which my Mernda boys are in this year (Northern Footy League Div 3) I had a bit of an idea of his capabilities. He’s a pretty big boy – Pies fans would be happy with what they’ve got, I reckon.

The next drill is about to get underway and it looks like a kicking-in drill, so a bit of match simulation in a sense. There’s two ‘teams’ – one wearing their jumpers and another wearing bibs on top. A bit of a concerning theme which is still evident from the warmup is that the kicking is still rather sloppy – and this inconsistency was pretty evident on Friday night as well, with Collingwood’s 11-goal third quarter more than making up for their first half which saw them fall 27 points behind. The ‘bib’ team seem to be better organised in this drill, displaying some really solid defensive pressure and not giving the jumpers team an inch – forced sideways and to switch at each opportunity.

The third kick-in is probably the jumpers’ best passage, with some really sharp skills evident. It’s intriguing to see that Bucks will persist with ‘Pendles’ playing more of a deeper defensive role. I did hear of a half-back role being slated for him so that the extremely talented midfield assembly they have can flourish. During the drill too, a familiar face pops in – ex-Pie and now-Demon Ben Kennedy, who was extremely solid for his new side on Saturday afternoon. Good to see the comradery and friendship is still there.

As the main group converge after that solid workout, it’s good to see a couple of the young blokes – Matty Goodyear and Rupert Wills – are really pushing themselves when doing some hard sprints on the sidelines. I would imagine they are being managed at this stage. The teams, in the meantime, resume their drill, with the bibs now taking control of the footy. Very early on – from the first kick-in as well – it’s clear that the bibs team have more of an attacking intent than the team with jumpers did, looking to go forward at every opportunity. Most pleasing in the second kick-in for Pies fans would be the sight of Darcy Moore, rocking his bright McLaren Orange kicks, taking a big contested mark and converting a goal. He’s definitely a Rising Star contender in 2016.

The use of Dane Swan through this drill continues to amuse me too, even though it’s already common knowledge. He’s playing more of a deeper forward role and pushing through the midfield at times. It’s just not right not seeing Swanny burst through the midfield, is it? One thing that remains constant is that he still needs to put some work into his kicking – as evidenced by a miss from about 25 out on a slightish angle.

That drill ends and the players are split into three. One small group is working with Anthony Rocca on their marking, which consists of Brodie Grundy, Jesse White, Jono Marsh and Jarrod Witts, while another on the far end are working on their set shots. Nearest to me, the largest group are doing a mini-game simulation of sorts under Jared Rivers. A couple of defensive lapses sees players berated – Tom Langdon one of them, Brayden Sier another. Meantime, Jeremy Howe and Tyson Goldsack are this time doing most of the running around whilst others are doing drills – it’s still taking some getting used to, this idea of Howe in a Magpie jumper.

The bib team lose – convincingly – in the mini game simulation drill, and are punished according by having to sprint the centre square. Pleasingly, it’s Travis Cloke going absolutely ham as he builds up some sort of a buffer between he and the next bloke in the queue. Good to see the hunger is right there in bold.

By the looks of things, the boys are realistically wrapping up. A number of the key players, like Swan, Pendlebury etc. are clearly being managed. Those who remain though, are practising their set shots.

You’d just wonder what Ted Potter would think of that idea, let alone the class of 2016.

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